Chances to buy fake Kindle off Ebay

pashlit · 09-22-2010, 02:20 PM

Hello fellow readers,
I bought my Kndle DX from Amazon as is not concerned about this issue but I decided to raise this question and may be help others to avoid troubles.
I was watching a couple of sellers on Ebay. They were selling Kindle DX at a quite appealing price. So I just wonder if the units they sell are genuine products from Amazon. There were claiming they come with full Amazon warranty etc. And some of them even through in free cover.
So the question is how are those sellers be able to sell a product that is still in great demand for a lower price than Amazon sells it for?
Here is simple math. One seller was selling Kindle DX for $320 with free shipping and also put an option to allow best offers to be submitted by buyers. He sold all his inventory in a matter of time. So if, lets say, he/she sold it for full $320. Ebay charges 10% of final value fee and PayPal takes another 3%. So the seller ends up with roughly $278 of revenue. Minus the shipping cost his net profit is abut $270 or even less. So in order to make some money his purchase price from Amazon should be around at least $250 I guess. I know Amazon do not allow any resellers on amazon.com web site due to the amount of fakes of Kindle 2 it had experienced. But Ebay of course is another story.
So is it possible that Amazons sells their products in bulk to resellers for $250 or less or is this seller selling a fake product? Some of the sellers never showed up again after their big first sales that also raises red flag.
If anybody ended up with fake Kindle off Ebay please share your story.

SkyDream · 09-22-2010, 02:37 PM

Well,

buying at ebay you must be cautious. There are always some bad guys on the road. That's not only true for Kindles sold on ebay.

On the other hand if those are real non-fake Kindles they may still make their profit. It all depends on what they paid for the Kindle. Maybe they got their hands on a couple of Kindles from a stores forced sale ? Maybe they "found" a whole lot Kindles on the streets or they "dropped" from a delivery truck. Who knows. Or maybe they are still didn't exists and were never delivered to the buyers.

ProfCrash · 09-22-2010, 02:41 PM

There have been folks who have bought used Kindles for great prces through Craigs List that ended up with bricked units. The suspicion is that the units were stolen and that is why they were so inexpensive.

The other scam on Criag's List was to sell a Kindle for ag reat price, demonstrate that it was working, let the person register it, and then call Amazon and have it bricked. I have no idea why the seller would have it bricked unless they thought that the person would be asked by Amazon to return the Kindle to Amazon and then Amazon would return it to the original owner who would then use it or sell it again. Either way, that person makes some extra cash.

darknessangel · 09-23-2010, 11:36 AM

Ok... I'm not trying to be an ass here but... the kindle is the cheapest of them all. Why not buy it from the source? I mean, if you're buying a kindle you must WANT to buy ebooks from amazon that means you have cash to burn. Otherwise if you want to read books from the darknet there are more stylish and better options (better format compatibility) out there.

And... always check references in ebay before buying. You can seldom do something wrong/get shafted if you choose someone with 100% positive reviews and more than 30-50. Advice from experienced ebayer.

pashlit · 09-23-2010, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darknessangel

Ok... I'm not trying to be an ass here but... the kindle is the cheapest of them all. Why not buy it from the source? I mean, if you're buying a kindle you must WANT to buy ebooks from amazon that means you have cash to burn. Otherwise if you want to read books from the darknet there are more stylish and better options (better format compatibility) out there.

And... always check references in ebay before buying. You can seldom do something wrong/get shafted if you choose someone with 100% positive reviews and more than 30-50. Advice from experienced ebayer.

$379?? You call it cheap?? Well i guess u r some lord's inheritor. I was not talking about 6'' Kindles.

Lazer · 09-23-2010, 11:48 AM

I bought a neoprene Kindle case off of eBay recently (located in NYC). 99 cents and $4 shipping. I used Paypal. What did I have to lose?

27 Days later it showed up COD. I refused acceptance, gave the seller a negative feedback and filed a dispute with eBay/Paypal and got a full refund.

Out of about 450 eBay transactions this was my third negative transaction. With Paypal you are pretty well covered.

L

darknessangel · 09-23-2010, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pashlit

$379?? You call it cheap?? Well i guess u r some lord's inheritor. I was not talking about 6'' Kindles.

Whoops, sorry I didn't notice the "DX" in there. In that case just look at my advice about ebay... it's still valid.

pashlit · 09-23-2010, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darknessangel

Whoops, sorry I didn't notice the "DX" in there. In that case just look at my advice about ebay... it's still valid.

I am not looking for an advise. I bought my DX directly from its creator. I am just curious on what people think about saving 50-100 dollars and taking the risk from buying off Ebay.

Regarding the previous poster's note about PayPal safety. Well if a seller collects 6k from selling his products and then withdraws the funds quickly PyaPal is not gonna help you. Well its easy when the transaction is just $4 bucks. But if the amount is big and there are no money in his PayPal balance or bank account you can loose money pretty easy. Don't ask me how I found it out.

And especially when a listing says "preorder, shipping in one week". In a week this guy will be sipping Pina Collada at Mexican beach

DiapDealer · 09-23-2010, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Well if a seller collects 6k from selling his products and then withdraws the funds quickly PyaPal is not gonna help you.

Actually, it will. If the seller hasn't built-up a solid reputation yet, they can't withdraw funds quickly. PayPal holds payments (unavailable for withdrawal) for a certain amount of time -- specifically in case the buyer lodges a complaint (protects the seller and the buyer). The length of time can be shortened if the buyer acknowledges receipt and gives positive feedback... so there really are pretty good safeguards.

Still doesn't guarantee anything, but it does prevent a fly-by-night seller from making a quick, high-dollar one-time sale and running off with the money.

Tiersten · 09-23-2010, 01:26 PM

It is unlikely that there are any devices which resemble a Kindle enough to pass as a fake at least for now. I'm sure all the various cloners out there will be busy making eBook reader knockoffs called the Krindle soon enough but they won't look quite right if you know what a real one looks like.

As with most things, anything that is too good to be true generally has some hidden strings attached. The cheap Kindle being advertised is most probably stolen, broken or was purchased with a stolen account or credit card. There is the remote possibility that they did get given one and don't want it but can't return it so they're selling it but I'd say those cases are rare.

Tiersten · 09-23-2010, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

The other scam on Criag's List was to sell a Kindle for ag reat price, demonstrate that it was working, let the person register it, and then call Amazon and have it bricked. I have no idea why the seller would have it bricked unless they thought that the person would be asked by Amazon to return the Kindle to Amazon and then Amazon would return it to the original owner who would then use it or sell it again. Either way, that person makes some extra cash.

Amazon probably hadn't disabled that Kindle yet. If it was stolen and then resold quickly then the real owner might not have noticed yet or hadn't had enough time to report it. Another possibility is that it was ordered with a stolen account or credit card.

There would be no reason for the fraudulent seller to get the Kindle blacklisted. They've got their money either way and if you stay a happy "customer" then it'd be easier for them in the future.

darknessangel · 09-23-2010, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pashlit

I am not looking for an advise. I bought my DX directly from its creator. I am just curious on what people think about saving 50-100 dollars and taking the risk from buying off Ebay.

...

If you're not pressed for money or have something better to do with it (like kids and so on) I don't take the risk due to some reasons a) I like my warranty, b) I don't know how it has been treated and c) well... there must be always a "c".

The only thing I have purchased was an old laptop with dockingstation. And it that case I shaved some 100 euros compared to buying a normal netbook. For that I got a very good IBM thinkpad with some spots on the screen (I knew this beforehand) but it had a year warranty from the seller and well... it was what I was looking for... an old trusty IBM thinkpad "with" a dockingstation which is awesome at work.

But IF you want to "catch a good deal" from some shady dude in t3h ebayz... well, you have to take risks =D... cause I'm sure you won't spare that much from good dealers.

gargoyle67 · 09-23-2010, 01:56 PM

If bought from ebay and paid with paypal you could just claim the money back via pp.

Will2010 · 09-23-2010, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pashlit

I am just curious on what people think about saving 50-100 dollars and taking the risk from buying off Ebay.

This person thinks it's a pretty foolish thing to do. If it sounds too good to be true...

Buy one legitimately from Amazon or an authorized retailer and you have no risk of being scammed. Problem solved.

Saving $50-100 on a $300+ device by trusting an unknown, unregulated source? You have to ask what's in it for the seller? Why are you reaping the benefit of $50-100 saving and how is the seller able to make such a good deal for you? If you can't answer that question plausibly, chances are extremely good that you're being scammed.

Falcao · 09-23-2010, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pashlit

$379?? You call it cheap?? Well i guess u r some lord's inheritor.

Ahahaha, that's a good one!

09-22-2010, 02:20 PM	#1
pashlit Zealot Posts: 132 Karma: 1310 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Hamilton, NJ Device: DXG, PRS-350	Chances to buy fake Kindle off Ebay - confirmed Hello fellow readers, I bought my Kndle DX from Amazon as is not concerned about this issue but I decided to raise this question and may be help others to avoid troubles. I was watching a couple of sellers on Ebay. They were selling Kindle DX at a quite appealing price. So I just wonder if the units they sell are genuine products from Amazon. There were claiming they come with full Amazon warranty etc. And some of them even through in free cover. So the question is how are those sellers be able to sell a product that is still in great demand for a lower price than Amazon sells it for? Here is simple math. One seller was selling Kindle DX for $320 with free shipping and also put an option to allow best offers to be submitted by buyers. He sold all his inventory in a matter of time. So if, lets say, he/she sold it for full $320. Ebay charges 10% of final value fee and PayPal takes another 3%. So the seller ends up with roughly $278 of revenue. Minus the shipping cost his net profit is abut $270 or even less. So in order to make some money his purchase price from Amazon should be around at least $250 I guess. I know Amazon do not allow any resellers on amazon.com web site due to the amount of fakes of Kindle 2 it had experienced. But Ebay of course is another story. So is it possible that Amazons sells their products in bulk to resellers for $250 or less or is this seller selling a fake product? Some of the sellers never showed up again after their big first sales that also raises red flag. If anybody ended up with fake Kindle off Ebay please share your story. Last edited by pashlit; 09-24-2010 at 10:10 AM.

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09-22-2010, 02:37 PM	#2
SkyDream Wizard Posts: 1,377 Karma: 9400 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Europe Device: PRS-650, iPod touch 4G, iPad 3	Well, buying at ebay you must be cautious. There are always some bad guys on the road. That's not only true for Kindles sold on ebay. On the other hand if those are real non-fake Kindles they may still make their profit. It all depends on what they paid for the Kindle. Maybe they got their hands on a couple of Kindles from a stores forced sale ? Maybe they "found" a whole lot Kindles on the streets or they "dropped" from a delivery truck. Who knows. Or maybe they are still didn't exists and were never delivered to the buyers.

09-22-2010, 02:41 PM	#3
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	There have been folks who have bought used Kindles for great prces through Craigs List that ended up with bricked units. The suspicion is that the units were stolen and that is why they were so inexpensive. The other scam on Criag's List was to sell a Kindle for ag reat price, demonstrate that it was working, let the person register it, and then call Amazon and have it bricked. I have no idea why the seller would have it bricked unless they thought that the person would be asked by Amazon to return the Kindle to Amazon and then Amazon would return it to the original owner who would then use it or sell it again. Either way, that person makes some extra cash.

09-23-2010, 11:36 AM	#4
darknessangel Addict Posts: 297 Karma: 1018140 Join Date: Feb 2009 Device: PRS-505, iPad	Ok... I'm not trying to be an ass here but... the kindle is the cheapest of them all. Why not buy it from the source? I mean, if you're buying a kindle you must WANT to buy ebooks from amazon that means you have cash to burn. Otherwise if you want to read books from the darknet there are more stylish and better options (better format compatibility) out there. And... always check references in ebay before buying. You can seldom do something wrong/get shafted if you choose someone with 100% positive reviews and more than 30-50. Advice from experienced ebayer.

09-23-2010, 11:48 AM	#6
Lazer Groupie Posts: 174 Karma: 1498858 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle 3	I bought a neoprene Kindle case off of eBay recently (located in NYC). 99 cents and $4 shipping. I used Paypal. What did I have to lose? 27 Days later it showed up COD. I refused acceptance, gave the seller a negative feedback and filed a dispute with eBay/Paypal and got a full refund. Out of about 450 eBay transactions this was my third negative transaction. With Paypal you are pretty well covered. L

09-23-2010, 01:26 PM	#10
Tiersten Guru Posts: 987 Karma: 8641 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Kindle 3G+WiFi	It is unlikely that there are any devices which resemble a Kindle enough to pass as a fake at least for now. I'm sure all the various cloners out there will be busy making eBook reader knockoffs called the Krindle soon enough but they won't look quite right if you know what a real one looks like. As with most things, anything that is too good to be true generally has some hidden strings attached. The cheap Kindle being advertised is most probably stolen, broken or was purchased with a stolen account or credit card. There is the remote possibility that they did get given one and don't want it but can't return it so they're selling it but I'd say those cases are rare.

09-23-2010, 01:56 PM	#13
gargoyle67 Addict Posts: 231 Karma: 180249 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: Kobo Aura	If bought from ebay and paid with paypal you could just claim the money back via pp.

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